


The Healing Powers of Jello

by highest_water



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-04
Updated: 2015-09-04
Packaged: 2018-04-19 00:19:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4725677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/highest_water/pseuds/highest_water
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dealing with a hit and run incident after a handful of hours sleep was far from what Emma Swan needed today but you never know what charms might be just around the corner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Healing Powers of Jello

# The Healing Powers of Jello

Emma really didn't need this today.

She'd had approximately four hours sleep after an interrogation went on into the early hours and now her phone was ringing.

And ringing.

And ringing.

There would only be one reason her phone was ringing so incessantly.

Cursing, she thrust her arm out from the warm cocoon of her blanket and snatched the phone up off her bedside table.

'Emma Swan speaking.'

She hadn't bothered to lift her head from her pillow so her voice was somewhat muffled. She knew she'd sound like crap after such little sleep anyhow, so what did it matter?

'Before you yell, I have coffee.'

'It had better be a never-ending pit of caffeine,' she mumbled as she turned over and winced at the daylight seeping through her curtains.

She hadn't needed to check the caller ID. Only David would ring Emma Swan (nemesis of the morning hours) at this time.

She swung her legs off the side of the bed, begrudgingly pulled herself to a sitting position and glared at the alarm clock brandishing 7.12am before startimg to stretch out the kinks in her neck.

'Em? You still there?'

'I'm here, sorry.'

'I said, can you meet me at the corner of Main and 3rd? There's been a hit and run.'

Now she was up and springing into action. She snatched a towel from off the hook by the bathroom door and started to shimmy her pyjama pants down her legs.

'Fatalities?'

She heard David let out a sigh which stopped her in her tracks, 'Not as of yet, but the victim is in a critical condition in hospital and his dog was killed on impact.'

'Geez,' Emma manoeuvred the phone to rest between her shoulder and cheek as she pulled her hair up before stepping into the shower. 'Be there in twenty,' she confirmed before placing her phone down next to her toothbrush on the side of the sink and stepping under the cool water.

 

\----------

It was, in fact, twenty two minutes later when she finally arrived at the crime scene, but that had more to do with traffic and less to do with Emma.

Two weeks into the new job, she was still keen to make a good first impression. Not on David. Her 'big brother' as he had once deemed himself, was the leader of the her fan club (members 2: David and his wife Mary Margaret). No, she wanted to make a good impression on the people of this town.

She had dearly needed a fresh start after the disaster that was Walsh so when David rang and mentioned the opening at his station she practically bit his hand off.

It was different to the city where each case meant so much at the time and then dissipated into dust as a new storm brewed. Here, each case involved the people she would see each day. The people who lived in her building, who served her in the supermarket, who prescribed her allergy tablets.

Who may become her friends.

_Geez, when did she get so sentimental?_ Mary Margaret really was rubbing off on her.

She stepped underneath the police tape and was greeted by David and the other officers she was getting to know from the station. A faint smell of burned rubber still lingered in the air and the road bore the guilty tyre marks of the perpetrator.

She tried not to dwell too much on the pool of crimson blood being sampled by the forensics guys.

'Plenty of eye witnesses then,' she mused gesturing to the full cafe behind her.

'Granny's is the best coffee in town,' David smiled as he handed her a take out cup.

The smile didn't quite reach his eyes though and determination shot through Emma. They would catch the asshole who did this.

'It had better be,' she teased. 'I only arise before 8 for top quality caffeine.' She blew across the opening in the lid before taking a sip. Okay, it was good coffee. Really good coffee. She gulped down quite a bit more of the bitter liquid.

'You can thank Granny in person then.' David smiled and nodded towards an elderly lady with a pair of glasses perched on the end of her nose serving one of the outside tables. 'If you want to make a start of the eye witness statements, I'll just speak to Victor before the forensics guys leave.'

He leaned forwards so his next words were out of earshot of the other officers, 'You want to make a good impression on Granny. Heart of gold but she's as a fierce as they come when she needs to be.'

'Noted,' Emma smirked and ducked back under the police line to make her way over to the cafe.

 

\--------

An hour later and she was still taking statements from the customers in the cafe. Seems David wasn't the only one who thought it was the best coffee in town. The cafe had been packed full of customers grabbing breakfast or a drink before work and so far all their stories matched.

The awful screech of tires, the howl of a dog, a white estate car with a Kansas plate fleeing the scene. (Tinted windows though so no one seemed to have much of an ID on the driver themselves.)

She sighed as she flipped over the page on her pad to interview the next customer only for a fresh cup of coffee to be placed in front of her on the table. She looked up to see a young brunette wearing an apron and a wide smile extending her hand. 'I'm Ruby, Granny's my, well, actual Granny,' she laughed. '

Emma Swan.' She shook her hand and thanked her for the coffee.

'No problem,' she smiled, 'and it's on the house. Whatever you said to my Granny when you arrived has certainly won her approval.'

Emma chuckled to herself, 'I may have told in no uncertain terms her we'd catch the person who did this.'

At Ruby's raised eyebrow she added, 'And perhaps in more colourful language.'

Ruby's laugh was loud and carefree and Emma quickly deemed it a good fit for the woman before. Her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of a cell phone. She automatically reached for hers before realising it was Ruby's phone.

'Oh, sorry, that's me,' Ruby delved into her apron to fish out the ringing phone signalling with a wave of her hand that she'd be one minute.

Emma began to to jot down questions for the other businesses on the street but couldn't help overhearing Ruby's part of the phone conversation.

'Hey, yeah she's absolutely fine. Brilliant as ever. Managing to put a smile on even Grumpy's face.'

Emma followed her line of vision to see a little girl of about six sitting up on the counter swinging her legs. She was talking animatedly to Leroy who was chuckling at whatever story she was regaling him with. He'd been a hard nut to crack when she had interviewed him earlier (Grumpy certainly was an apt moniker) so she was impressed by the charms of the girl.

'We're all okay too so don't panic and rush over here. Just come by on your break if it will ease your mind.' Ruby caught Emma's eye then and rolled her eyes at the concern of whoever she was speaking to. A male, Emma thought from the timbre of the voice.

She wondered idly if it was the girl's father.

Then wondered if the girl was in fact Ruby's daughter. She certainly had her charm and dark hair.

'Later, you dork,' Ruby laughed as she hung up. Okay, maybe if wasn't her husband.

'Sorry about that,' Ruby laughed again and Emma couldn't help but smile. Her easy going nature was certainly providing a welcome relief to her morning.

'Killian heard about the accident on the radio and was having a minor meltdown about Lottie.' Ruby gestured behind her to where the girl, Lottie, was now slurping on the rest of Grumpy's milkshake.

'Is she yours?' Emma asked.

'God no! Granny and I normally baby sit her if Killian has an early start during the school holidays. It's just the two of them and they're both pretty great so we try and help out.' She shrugged as if this act of kindness was nothing and Emma found her hard city-girl edges becoming a little more rounded. 'Let me know if you need anything else,' Ruby offered as moved away.

Emma nodded her thanks and scanned the cafe for David. They needed to prepare for the press.

 

\--------

Emma normally hated doing press but it had been a little easier with David at her side and the town mayor - a Ms Mills - was bloody ferocious in her condemnation of the crime too. She'd fully pledged her support to the police in catching the criminal and stated that such acts would not be tolerated in her town.

Note to self: keep the mayor on side.

Despite the caffeine, Emma felt herself beginning to flag and she glanced down at her watch yawning. 12.08. Definitely time for lunch. Particularly as she hadn't had time for more than a graham cracker on her way out the door this morning. She moved towards where David was situated at the other side of the cafe to see if he was game for a twenty minute food break when she felt a tug on the sleeve of her leather jacket.

She was baffled when she looked down to see the little girl, Lottie, smiling at her and holding out a plate of unnaturally blue jello. 'Is it for me?' Emma asked crouching down to the girl's eye level.

'Yep,' Lottie nodded, 'if it's a bad day you have to have jello to make it better.'

Emma grinned at that. At what age did you begin to doubt yourself? When would you question the healing properties of jello? She glanced to the counter to see Ruby shrug as if to say, what can you do?

'Jello, huh?' Emma asked as she picked up the fork and stabbed it into the wobbling mound. Lottie continued to wait eagerly. Emma hoped she would be able to muster up a good enough show of being transformed by the healing powers of jello to assuage the young girl. 'Who knew it had such magic?' She widened her eyes before taking a large mouthful.

'That might be my fault, love,' came an accented male voice from behind her.

Emma stood up and swung around to come face to face with the man and found herself grateful that she had a mouthful of jello and a plate in her hand because he was ridiculously handsome and she was fairly certain that she wouldn't have been able to muster an appropriately professional response.

Beside her, Lottie flung herself at the man and she squealed in delight as he picked her up and tickled her sides. As she concentrated hard on swallowing her mouthful of jello (and there is no graceful way of doing so) Emma took in the man before her.

He had the same dark hair as Lottie and, she noted, the same earnest, blue eyes. This must have been the guy Ruby spoke to on the phone earlier who had been 'having a meltdown'.

He searched Lottie's face for any signs of unrest and cupped her rosy cheek, 'You're okay darling?' he asked her.

'Yep,' she grinned and patted him on the head. 'I helped Granny and drank Grumpy's milkshake and then I brought Ruby's friend Emma jello because she has been working really hard all morning.'

Emma felt the gaze of four, questioning blue eyes upon her as he shifted Lottie weight onto his hip so he could see Emma better. 'It was good Jello too,' she found herself saying.

With his free arm, he reached up to scratch behind his ear in what seemed a nervous gesture before explaining. 'I, well, it's daft I know, but Lottie and I always have Jello if we're having a bad day.'

'It fixes everything,' Lottie enthused. He turned and grinned at the little girl in his arms with such love that Emma had to look away.

Even now, such little things would remind her of what she never had. She also wondered how many bad days a six year old in Lottie's situation could have when she was so clearly adored.

'Killian Jones,' he nodded and held his hand out to her.

She did not feel a tingle shoot up her arm as she shook his hand.

Refused to contemplate such notions.

'Emma Swan,' she smiled, 'and I have already met your kind daughter who rescued me from starvation.'

He laughed but it sounded a little hollow and did she imagine the blush which rose on his cheeks as he began to speak?

'Well, you see-

-he's not my Dad!' Lottie giggled at her as if it was the most absurd statement in the world.

Emma was about to mumble her apologies when Lottie continued. 'He's my Uncle Killian, but he takes cares of me,' she smiled and shrugged her six year old shoulders. It was as simple as that.

There was a moment then where they stood awkwardly smiling at one another in the middle of the diner. Something about him drew her in and it was more than his handsome appearance. She noted the _'Jones' commercial boats'_ stitched onto the pocket of his navy shirt and the way his cheeks dimpled slightly. How when she searched his face she found no trace of a lie in its features but perhaps a sadness lingering below the smooth surface.

Ruby's call from the kitchen snapped them out of whatever it was they were doing. 'Hey Killian, how much time do you have? You eating in or heading straight back?'

He looked at the wide eyed gaze of the little girl in his arms and called back, 'I have time to eat.'

'Yes!' Lottie cheered and wriggled down from his arms before scampering off to the kitchen.

He quickly stuffed both his hands into his jeans pockets as if he was uncertain of what to do them. 'Busy morning for you guys then?'

Emma ran a hand through her hair, 'If I told you that mouthful of jello and a graham cracker was all I'd had to eat today then that would probably answer your question.'

He smiled at that and hesitantly extended an invitation to eat lunch with himself and Lottie, 'I only have about twenty minutes before I need to get back to the office but I'm sure even police officers can find time for Granny's burgers. They're the stuff of dreams.'

'I thought that was her coffee,' she quipped.

'And her onion rings,' David chimed in from behind her making her nearly jump out of her skin.

'Geez, David,' she smacked him on the arm. 'You scared the crap out of me!' In his defence, he did have the decency to look sheepish. 

'How you doing mate?' Killian asked him warmly.

_Mate?_ Right, small town, everyone knew everyone.

'A little stressed this morning but otherwise good.' David moved to perch on one of the bar stools at the counter, 'You got time for the usual?'

Killian was obviously a close 'mate' then. One who nodded and slid onto the spare stool next to David's right as if this was part of a regular routine. Emma took this as her cue, that yes, they did have time for lunch and hopped onto the stool the other side of David.

Her stomach growled in anticipation.

It must have been louder than she thought as both men laughed at her.

'Hey! A girl's gotta eat.'

'That's what I like to hear!' Granny chimed from the other side of the counter.

'Are you having the same as this pair of miscreants?' She tipped her head at David and Killian who just beamed serenely back her. 'Yeah, yeah, your good looks are fooling no one you pair.'

Emma _knew_ she liked this woman.

'What's their usual?'

'The Granny's classic with a side of thin cut fries,' the older woman stated proudly.

'Emma's an onion ring girl,' David chimed in.

'Coming right up then,' she slapped the counter and sidled off to join Ruby (and Lottie) in the kitchen.

They chatted about the morning's incident and Killian's boating company down at the docks. She told herself that it was the fact that Killian came 'David approved' that she found herself so at ease in his company. Experience taught her that is was useful to keep her guard up when meeting new people and, if she were being honest with herself, even when people knew her pretty well. If you don't let them in, then they don't have the power to hurt you.

(Or leave you)

And so, when she found herself as ease in Killian's company and smiling at his cheesy jokes, (and definitely not noticing the way his eyes crinkled in the corners when he laughed or the way her stomach did somersaults when he fixed his gaze on her) she allowed it because David was there. A physical and emotional buffer sat in between them. Emma Swan could be breezy and carefree and happy with a David shaped barrier between emotional connections.

Lottie soon skipped back out from the kitchen wanting to show Killian her morning's art masterpieces.

'You know, Mrs Nolan is really looking forward to you being in her new class next week,' David informed the girl as she rifled through various sheets of paper adorned with wax crayon wonders.

Lottie fell about laughing. She leaned forward from where she was perched on Killian's knee to whisper conspiratorially to David. 'She's really called Mary Margaret in the holidays you know? Mrs Nolan is just her teacher name.'

How David kept a straight face and nodded solemnly she didn't know. She (and Killian) fell about laughing.

The pair of them had been right though, the food was incredible. It tasted _homey_ somehow and Emma surprised herself that she didn't choke on the concept. As she was complimenting Granny on her onion rings, Killian stepped out to take a call. David insisted on footing the bill. Emma knew better than to put up a fight.

'Call it a thank you for dragging you out of bed after a handful of hours sleep,' he shrugged.

Killian walked back to where they were sat and shrugged his coat on over his work shirt. 'Right, I need to head back to the office. Ariel's had to move a meeting forward.' He quickly leaned forward to press a kiss to Lottie's forehead. 'Be good, lass, and I'll see you in a few hours.'

Lottie nodded and squeezed her arms around his neck in a brief hug.

'Still want to go swimming when I'm done?'

'Yeah!'

Emma watched as they high-fived one another before Killian ducked into the kitchen to say bye to Granny and Ruby. (She didn't follow his movements with her eyes to see Granny affectionately whack him with a tea towel before he pecked a kiss to her cheek.)

(It definitely didn't make her insides flip flop.)

As he came back out and made his way over to them she suddenly felt self conscious. He stopped before them and she felt herself growing warmer. What was _wrong_ with her? He was just a friend of David's. A handsome friend, but still.

_Don't go red._

_Don't go red._

David saved her worrying when he reached out to comedicly 'high-five' Killian himself much to the amusement of Lottie. 'I'll see you for the game tomorrow night?'

'Wouldn't miss it.'

Emma had decided to shift her gaze to the safe haven of the counter top. Killian cleared his throat and she glanced up to see he looked somewhat uneasy too. He absentmindedly reached up to scratch his ear again and something about the uncertainty made Emma more confident.

'It was really good to meet you Killian.'

The smile that spread across his features definitely made her blush. 'The pleasure was all mine, lass.' He nodded his head as if confirming something to himself. 'I'll see you around, Swan.'

And with that he left and Emma felt herself exhale the breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

 

\--------

A half hour later and she and David were on their way back to that station. She was contemplating asking about Lottie and Killian and their situation but didn't want to pry.

Or seem interested.

It was more than his handsome appearance. There had been something about him which had simultaneously made her feel overwhelmed and _safe_.

David, with his easy going manner, filled in the blanks without her even asking. Inviting Emma to watch the game with he and guys tomorrow night, he explained that she'd be welcome to hang out Mary Margaret and Ruby if she preferred but that they often watched a rom-com and shared a bottle of wine while they kept watch on Lottie and Jefferson's girl, Paige.

Emma snorted. She was definitely more of a hockey and beer kind of girl.

He went on to explain how he and Mary Margaret tried to help out with Lottie too. How Killian had been thrust into the role of Lottie's parent two years ago when his elder brother Liam and his wife had been killed in a car accident. How he had given up his life in the city to come to take care of his niece and take over his brother's business.

No wonder he panicked when he heard about the hit and run on the radio. It made sense too, Emma thought, that she had sensed a vulnerability beneath the charm. There was something akin to understanding in his gaze which both intrigued and unsettled her. 'He's been brilliant with Lottie,' David continued. 'He's a good guy.'

Something about the way his mouth twitched at the corners made Emma feel that somehow his final comment was for her benefit. She rolled her eyes at him and pointedly stared out the window instead.

 

\--------

Emma Swan did not _do_ being sick.

And yet the following morning she awoke to a sinful pounding in her head. Her limbs felt as if they had each gained an extra twenty pounds overnight and her nose refused to let her breathe.

Eugh.

She fumbled through the drawer of her bedside table in search of pain killers or flu relief and came up empty handed because Emma Swan didn't _do_ being ill. Heaving her aching muscles out of bed, she quickly tapped out a message to David to explain that she would be a couple of minutes late as she needed to go to to store and buy any and every flu medicine they had available.

She caught sight of herself in the mirror on the way to the bathroom and grimaced. Geez, she looked rough. Nothing for it but a hair-thrown-up-in-a-messy-bun-and-accept-I-look-ill kind of day.

As she stepped out of the shower, she saw her phone light up with a message from David-

******MM is sending me with some sort of medicinal herbal tea for you.**

_I'd expect nothing less._

**Here's hoping your sense of smell and taste have gone. It smells rancid.**

**Don't tell her I said that.**

_You'd better be nice to your sick friend today then ;)_

She smiled at that. Of course Mary Margaret would have some homey remedy that she swore by. That woman was sunshine personified.

\--------

And she _was_ grateful that her sense of smell and taste had gone because from the look on the guys' faces in the station as she brewed her tea, David hadn't been lying. Oh well, desperation to feel like a human once more had officially settled in. She'd down the whole box of tea if it restored her faculties.

Consigned to paperwork duties for the day she had to force her eyes to remain focussed on her reports as the words swam before her. _Maybe a nap would help?_ She found herself actually contemplating the etiquette of power napping at work when a hand waved in front of her face.

'Hey, earth to Emma.'

She shook herself out of her reverie to glance up and find a concerned, and slightly amused, David.

'Hey, sorry. What were you saying?'

'I'm going to grab a take out from Granny's before stopping by the hospital to check on any updates from yesterday. Did you want anything?' 

'Oh, no, I'm good thanks.' She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and tried to smile brightly at him.

'You are far from 'good' today,' he chuckled. 'I'll keep you posted if there's any news from the hospital.'

A call came through a few minutes later about an abandoned motorbike out by the woods. Robin and Graham took the call (throwing pitying looks in her direction) leaving Emma alone in the station.

If she wasn't mistaken, her head did feel a little lighter and when she read through her finished report she was surprised that it a) made sense and b) was well written. She reached for her phone and scrolled to find her last message from Mary Margaret.

_Your tea has special healing powers._

**:) You're welcome. I'm glad you gave it a go despite what I am sure was a less than glowing recommendation from David.**

_Ha, just you wait until he gets sick. He'll come crawling to abuse your super powers then._

The guys called asking her to run the plate on the abandoned bike, (strangely,also a Kansas registration) so she moved through into the back office where she could better cross reference through their database.

When she found a match she dialled out to Robin and Graham to tell them the good news. Deep in conversation, she glanced up to see Killian placing something on her desk out front. He seemed a little nervous as he scrawled a message on a post it note from her desk and placed it on top of the package.

Curious, she tapped the window from the back office to get his attention while she carried on listening to Robin's detailing of the situation.

'You okay?' she mouthed. _What was he doing here?_

He grinned and gave her two thumbs up like a giddy child. 

She shook her head at his charming idiocy but couldn't deny that she was already smiling more than she had all day.

He stopped and took her in, smiling to himself and raising his eyebrows in that questioning way of his. Whatever he was searching for in her expression he must have been satisfied because he nodded again and took his leave.

She forced herself to return her concentration to Robin on the other end of the phone and scribbled down the key information to follow up before signing off.

She knew she made her way over to her desk far more quickly than that of someone who didn't care, but she couldn't fight her curiosity.

Sitting on her desk was a small, cardboard container with a plastic spoon on top that he'd stuck the post it note to.

**Swan, heard you were feeling rough. Something to help with a 'bad day' - Jones**

She found herself smiling at his turn of phrase - 'feeling rough'. That was an understatement.  _How did he even know she was unwell?_  She figured he must have run in to David at Granny's.

_More to the point, why had he taken it upon himself to care?_ That one wasn't so easy to answer and she found herself gnawing on her lower lip questioning what it may mean.

It would be easier to just push it aside. She could say an urgent call came in that she had to deal with and the package must have got misplaced during the course of the afternoon. It would be easier and yet something prevented her from taking her usual course of action.

Throwing caution to the wind, she lifted the lid on the box and brought her hand up to her mouth to try and stifle to giggle that escaped. A bowl of bright - ludicrously bright - blue jello sat inside. Feeling more alive than she had all day, she picked up the spoon and tucked in. Maybe jello really did have medicinal powers.

And if she stuck the post it note to the inside of her desk drawer then it was simply in the name of tidiness and keeping a clean desk.

And if a few more post it notes were added over time then it was simply because Emma hadn't wanted to be outdone and had maybe dropped off a similar nonsense gift at his offices the next day. (It wasn't a big deal. She'd been in the area after all.)

Only for him to return the favour two days later. It became a thing. A back and forth game that made her smile more than she would care to admit and kept the other guys at the station endlessly entertained.

And perhaps a few weeks later, she came back from dealing with Leroy's antics to find a hideously tacky swan key ring on her desk sitting on top of a post it note -

**Dinner? I'll pick you up at 8.**

Seeing ink peek through from the other side, she flipped over the post it note to read the reverse.

**P.S - Yes Swan, it's a date.**

She rolled her eyes. He was such an idiot, but she was warming up to the idea that he might just be _her_ idiot.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Characters belong to the creators of Once Upon a Time


End file.
